A Focus on Fifty-Plus

To make the most of your marketing dollars, it’s important to personalize your message for your target audience. After all, patients in their 50s are not looking for the same healthcare information as those in their 20s. So, how do you know what your audience is looking for? Lucky for you, we’ve done the research.

When it comes to Baby Boomers (roughly ages 50 – 70), here’s what you need to know:

They like security, being healthy and fit, and enjoying life, activities and friendships.

41 percent of those over age 65 say their health is very good or excellent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Baby Boomers are skilled, adept and experienced, so marketers need to use positive words and not make them feel over the hill,” says Ann Fishman, founder of Generational Targeted Marketing, a firm that provides insight into America’s generations (everything-pr.com). “Don’t make the content scary or have Boomers think ‘I’d rather have the disease than the cure’ because the message spends too much time rattling off all the negative side effects of a medication.”

Keeping all this in mind, here’s how to connect with the 50-plus demographic:

Focus on their desire to fully enjoy life with messages about staying active, maintaining healthy eating habits and keeping up on preventive visits.

Remember that they tie their success to long-term relationships and their adult children’s happiness, so images that feature multi-generational families and friends enjoying activities together make a lasting impression.

Use language they understand. You can be creative, but don’t use slang they might not be familiar with.

Don’t assume you need to speak with a caregiver or adult child; Baby Boomers are independent.

Don’t require them to go online as a next step; provide another option as well. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 34 percent of those over age 65 don’t use the internet.

Reach out using both print and digital media. Although the majority of this demographic now uses technology regularly, they all grew up with only paper mail, and many still prefer it.

If you’d like help crafting your marketing campaign to truly connect with your target audience, image.works is ready focus on you. We’ve been doing this for more than 20 years, we’ve done our research and we know what works. When you partner with us, you’ll experience unmatched creativity, superior service and extraordinary results. Just contact an account executive to get started!